I'm a Hot Mess (2011), and I'm loving it, hell yes.

Whew boy. So the deionized water is still out in our lab, so I'm going to take this opportunity to update the blog.

I just got back (read: on Sunday) from Hot Mess 2011 in Philly. For those of you who are either a) not swing dancers, b) not from Philly or c) both, Hot Mess is a workshop and dance weekend that focuses on fast dancing in all its aspects. It may have been one of the best and most useful events I've attended so far.

The dancing was of course, fantastic. Never have I done so many swingouts at high speeds so late into the night. You get this incredible adrenaline rush from executing pretty much any lindy move at 240 BPM, and it only gets better when you chain 30 things into a pattern of pure awesome.

The instructors (Mike Faltasek, Nina Gilkenson, Mike Seguin and Adam Boehmer) were all fantastic, but the most useful workshop wasn't really a workshop at all. It was called "How to Be a Badass" and was really more of a townhall style discussion. Adam made an incredible point of how leads have a comfort zone for their arms (roughly at neck level), and how bringing your arms higher can really bring some extra emotion to your dancing. Nina had us jazzercise and then dance around to Kellis and Rihanna. She wanted to prove the point that it's silly that we let ourselves go and dance "just for fun" on the club floor, but on the lindy floor we think we have to box ourselves into certain roles. Mike('s) gave some amusing ways of playing around in dancing, and how starting small and staying there until a solid way into the song can make a swingout seem like a giant deal.

My legs do not want to function correctly as of writing this, but you can bet your ass that I'm going to be headed to Philly for LaB (Lindy and Blues) tonight. I am still so pumped from the weekend.

Impulse Spending and Swing Dancing

Yeesh, I'm back. Deleted the old posts because they seemed a tad whiny. Let's try to move on from that stage, shall we?

I may or may not have (read: just) purchased a Nintendo 3DS. Mostly so I can play Ocarina of Time 3D. Since I do an annual playthrough of that game as is, I may as well play it in relatively glorious 3D with some spiffier graphics. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. I hope I don't get privy to my own mind games. That'd be awful.

Also, tonight marks the 5th consecutive night I've gone swing dancing. Started with Liberty Swing Championships (WCS) Friday and Saturday, then the Jazz Age Lawn Party (Lindy/Bal) Sunday, Powerhouse Blues (this is obvious) Monday, and tonight will be LaB (Lindy and Blues, clever). I'm pretty sure my legs will soon revolt and attack me. I'll take pictures if that happens.

I'm only mildly worried about my ability to teach the int. and beg. lessons at Princeton University Swing Club tomorrow. Hope my legs hold up!

-Sho

PS At least I have new contacts, which generally make dancing easier. Generally.